The lists will continue until the writing brain improves!
This started out as a missive about why we don’t give as much love to Haydn as we ought to. But while thinking about it I found a few other random musical bits to mention while I was here.
So here we go.
Haydn
I talked about Haydn a bit at this time last year, but only covered the later symphonies as performed by “big bands”, by which I meant an almost full-sized standard symphony orchestra.
In the larger conversation about standard repertoire Haydn tends to get overshadowed by Mozart and Beethoven. But this is too bad because to a large extent Haydn invented the forms and structures that allowed Mozart and Beethoven to write the music that everyone assumes is more interesting than Haydn. All this and his music is much more interesting than people seem to think.
Even if you just restrict yourself to the areas where he is most famous: the symphonies and string quartets I defy you to find one work in that collection that isn’t delightful in some way. And most of them, even the early ones and the ones that are not the most famous, are absolute bangers.
But wait! There is more! Haydn also wrote reams of other chamber music, masses, operas, piano sonatas and on and on. You simply can’t get through it all.
So anyway. Go find more Haydn. Here’s how to start: both the Fischer and Dorati complete symphony sets are in the streaming services. Just play through symphonies 1 to 16. If you don’t find anything in there that just makes you smile uncontrollably then I have nothing to say to you.
Or do the same thing with the string quartets. There are multiple ways to dig in there too.
Dvořák
In many ways Dvořák is the Haydn of the late Romantic period. He sits stuck between the structured efficiency of Brahms and the wild extended romanticism of Bruckner and Mahler. Also like Haydn he is only known for a tiny percentage of the good stuff he actually wrote. Everyone knows The New World symphony, maybe the cello concerto and that one string quartet and that’s it.
But again, Dvorak wrote so much more. All the symphonies are good. He wrote dozens of the non-symphony orchestral pieces that are fascinating to dig into. And there is chamber music (the 10th quartet became a favorite the second I heard the first chord), choral music, opera, and on and on.
Naxos has a box in streaming that is everything he ever wrote for orchestra. Start there, then hit the string quartets and trios. You’re welcome.
Downloading Music
The consumption of recorded music these days seems to come in two modes. Most people appear to be happy with the streaming services even though they are for the most part terrible unless you pay them a monthly tithe. Then they are only terrible for the artists.
People overcome by misty-eyed nostalgia are obsessing over various forms of physical media that are great to look at but exceedingly annoying to actually use to play music.
For some reason no one seems interested in the best way to buy and then listen to music: downloads.
Downloads combined with services like iTunes Match (remember that?) let you have your cake and eat it too. You own the files, and keep local copies. But you can also stream them from all your devices.
On your main computer you have a full resolution file that will sound exactly like what comes out of a player that plays physical disks (for the most part). On your other computers and your phone you can stream (mostly) the same music without ads, without the files disappearing for mysterious reasons, and these days often even at full bit rate.
All this and also PDF liner notes that you can magnify so they are actually readable. What more could you want?
Martinů
OK. Back to composers. Martinů is a long time favorite of mine. So much so that I named a great annoyance that I used to have with iTunes after it.
Martinů is modern but listenable. Edgy, but also full of texture, emotion, and wild dense chords that keep your brain busy.
He also wrote all kinds of pieces in all kinds of forms. Symphonies, chamber symphonies, quartets, concertos, operas. The whole thing. And everything I’ve ever dug up has been interesting to listen to while not making you want to bite your ears off your face. Good stuff.
Lots of Modern Symphonies
This past spring we went to see the Cleveland Orchestra specifically to hear them play the 4th symphony of Grażyna Bacewicz, a Polish composer from the early 20th century period. The symphony was great (all of the stuff I’ve heard from her is great), and it brought up the question: are there new symphonies? If so, where are they?
Well here’s a few:
- Bacewicz, Martinů, Bax, Malcom Arnold
- Shostakovich (this is cheating, but you have to put him here)
- David Diamond, Walter Piston, Roy Harris, Bernstein, Amy Beach, Barber
- Britten, Florence Price, Nielsen, Ives, Villa-Lobos
- Higdon, Libby Larsen, Vagn Holmboe
OK. That’s enough.
Crystal Records
When I used to get record magazines every month or two there would always be a small ad in the front of the issue for a strange looking outfit called Crystal Records. Usually the ad would be pushing a CD with a giant whale on the cover and containing some symphony or other by one Alan Hovhaness. Crystal apparently has a whole series of these records. Though I have not listened to them.
Last year some time I picked up an out of print Crystal Records LP of violin and viola duos. I had heard one of the pieces live and was excited to find a recording of it.
Then I got curious and checked to see if this outfit was still around. And of course they are. And they have the most interesting mom and pop e-commerce hack I’ve seen in ages. To quote the web site:
Also, FREE CD with purchase of 3. When you list 3 CDs, you can get a 4th (lower or equal-priced CD) for FREE. In the shopping bag, only order the 3 you are paying for and put the 4th in the “Leave a Comment” section in the Checkout page
Browsing around their web site I found it to be full of recordings of out of the way repertoire for instruments that don’t tend to get the spotlight on a record. Viola, oboe, bassoon, tuba, trombone, and more. There were also some records featuring players who I knew from the PSO. So I put three in my basket and then typed “Free CD” and the number of another disk in the comment part of the checkout form. A week or two later four CDs showed up in my mailbox.
Great!
I’ll be doing this once in a while for the next few years I’m sure.
Dave Hurwitz Videos
Finally, I have been enjoying the Dave Hurwitz classical music channel on youtube. He’s a goofball but he knows what he likes and can back up his opinions from a place of knowledge and experience. Most importantly he is consistent in his taste, so you can figure out whether or not you will like something based on his opinion of it.
He also has an incredible memory for recordings since most of his videos seem to just be recorded off the top of his head.
Check out his Haydn symphony crusade!